Our Country. Our Future. Our Moment

Major Investment in Nation’s Infrastructure a Top Priority of Administration

By: Zack Duvall

Looking to make good on campaign promises and pledges to completely overhaul and revamp America’s decaying infrastructure, President Donald Trump plans to meet with leaders of companies from a range of industry including real estate, management consulting, and the private equity field later today.

The meeting comes after comments made by the President and White House officials, proposing a $1 trillion spending package to be invested into updating, repairing, and modernizing America’s sub-par infrastructure system. A system that the American Society of Civil Engineers graded a D+ in comparison to other major modernized countries.

“The time has come for a new program of national rebuilding. To launch our national rebuilding, I will be asking Congress to approve legislation that produces a $1 trillion investment in infrastructure of the United States, financed through public and private capital- creating millions of new jobs.” President Trump said during a speech to Congress in which he outlined his plans for a massive spending plan to revitalize America’s infrastructure.

The need for private investors, according to Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, came about after the initial review of America’s bridges, roads, airports, and port facilities determined that the overall needed investment by 2020 to improve America’s infrastructure to acceptable and desirable condition have would have to be $3.26 trillion, a figure much to high for the Transportation Department to fiance on its own with its current budget.

“Public private partnerships are a very important part of a new way of financing our roads and bridges that are in disrepair, and are very dangerous.” Chao said in a statement of the new private investment program.

In January the Trump administration issued an executive order aimed at making such infrastructure projects pushed through bureaucratic red tape, by expediting environmental impact reviews of all projects related to the improvement of America’s infrastructure. Specifically, ‘high priority’ projects such as “improving the U.S. electrical grid and telecommunications systems” and “repairing and updating critical port facilities, airports, pipelines, bridges, and highways.”